A former officer for the CIA and the FBI was charged in US federal court in Hawaii with selling secrets to Beijing, including disclosing the identities of informants for the United States in China.

Hong Kong-born Andrew Ma Yuk-ching was tricked into admitting his activities last year by a US undercover agent. Posing as a Chinese officer, the agent told Ma he had long been underpaid.

Ma continued to meet with the agent, accepting money and offering secrets until this month when he said he "would prefer to discuss opportunities after the Covid-19 pandemic subsided," the indictment said.

The Justice Department said Ma was arrested on August 14.

Ma, 67, a naturalized US citizen, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1982 to 1989.

He had a relative - not named or charged due to his age of 85 and bad health - who also worked for the CIA from 1967 to 1983.

It is claimed that as early as 2001 the two were providing information to Beijing's Ministry of State Security.

The indictment says FBI investigators gained video and audio recordings of their meetings with MSS agents in Hong Kong in March 2001. At those meetings they provided details of CIA operations and informants, and a video shows them receiving US$50,000 (HK$389,000).

Then Ma got a job at the FBI in Hawaii with access to classified information and for at least 10 years allegedly copied documents for his Chinese handlers.

He and his relative were also asked to identify from pictures US agents and informants in China.

The case is the latest of several brought against US government employees who sold secrets to China. After Beijing reportedly broke up a CIA network inside China around 2010 the agency began digging for leaks and moles.

HK-born spook on China spy charge in US